About the Author

Read Hayes, PhD, CPP

Read Hayes, Ph.D., is a research scientist at the University of Florida, and the director of the industry group Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC). The University of Florida Crime Prevention Research Team conducts research to provide organizations with improved crime and loss-control methods. The independent LPRC was founded by ten major retail chains in 2000 to help improve their loss prevention results using scientific research.

Today, the LPRC includes over 95 major corporate members working together with scientists in ten working groups focused on significant retail crime and loss-control issues. The LPRC also conducts an annual Impact conference, provides monthly research reports, a weekly email, and hosts R&D in their Innovation Lab as well as virtual workspaces and a research report library on the web for all LPRC members and working groups. LPRC members include Bloomingdales, Home Depot, Target, Walgreens, Big Lots, P&G, Louis Vuitton, Dollar General, Publix, and AutoZone, as well as many leading LP solution providers.

Dr. Hayes started as a store detective in retail loss prevention and has over 30 years’ of hands-on crime and loss-control experience working with organizations worldwide. Read co-founded the University of Florida’s globally used National Retail Security Survey in 1989, and has conducted over 85 LP field research projects.

Dr. Hayes has spoken at over 100 conferences, and is the author of over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, 150 magazine articles, and four top-selling books, including Retail Security and Loss Prevention, 2nd Edition. Dr. Hayes has also provided crime prevention expertise to the New York Times, Fox News, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, NPR, Oprah, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Fast Company, Discovery Channel, Entrepreneur magazine, USA Today, and the BBC. He is an ongoing contributor to LP Magazine writing the Evidence-Based LP column in each issue.

Dr. Hayes is a criminology graduate of the University of Florida, as well as Leicester University in the UK and can be contacted at rhayes [at] lpresearch.org.

Articles by Read Hayes, PhD, CPP

Regardless of the protective progress retailers and solutions providers are making, thieves are still carrying off billions of dollars’ worth of goods annually. While merchandise loss costs retailers huge amounts of money, theft-driven product out-of-stocks, and sometimes locked-up goods, it also deters sales to good customers. Happy, buying customers are

Two US retail chains participated in an extensive study of how to select individuals most likely to win as in-store loss prevention specialists (store detectives or “SDs”). The report is based on a very rigorous job domain and performance analysis process and should also provide practical input for retailers. Following

Before starting an incision, confirm the patient’s identity. Clearly mark the exact surgical site. Ask about allergies. Discuss any anticipated blood loss. Introduce yourself by name. Know your fellow surgical team members. These are some of the nineteen tasks on the World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist, a short

The loss prevention/asset protection industry is full of hard-chargers—individuals striving to get better, to excel at what they do, to make a difference. But increasing loss, crime, and intense retail competition mean we need to continue to get even better.

Judgment is everything for a loss prevention decision-maker. Good choices are a lot easier with good information—hence the Loss Prevention Research Council’s aim towards evidence-based loss prevention.

In earlier columns, I’ve discussed how critical it is to accurately diagnose the causes and dynamics of a problem to properly treat it using

Here’s how one shoplifter assesses risk. “First things first—you want to know if they got what you want. The second factor is the risk involvement. The risk involvement will be security times cameras times employees times space times [other] customers. Those are the five factors you’re going to have. Why?

Regardless of what your company sells, where you sell it, or your total store count, you as a loss prevention or asset protection professional must win. Life safety, frightened customers and team members, dangerously low margins, and liability are some of your business risks. Violence, theft, fraud, and even poor

Every living person generates signals, signatures, and noise, if you will. As we move through time and space, we shed DNA, talk on phones, travel, register for, apply for, and purchase things—all the while texting, emailing, tweeting, posting, and so on.
Human Footprints
This biological and digital exhaust and our literal and

This may sound controversial, but it’s been my observation that over the years that loss prevention professionals are behavioral experts first and technicians second. LP decision-makers should strive to deploy countermeasures that effectively convince criminals not to attempt or commit a crime.

We always want to win, not just execute. In fact, we must win. When LP loses, life safety, brand image, and financial performance are all at risk. At the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC) and University of Florida (UF), that’s our mandate, to support LP/AP success through process and people

Current Issue

From a new crowdsourcing, crime-solving tool to a thoughtful conversation with Kevin Valentine of Signet Jewelers, from the latest data and results from the NRF's 2017 ORC survey to research and insights on food waste reduction, the January–February 2018 issue of LP Magazine delivers great ideas to make you a smarter LP professional.